Was the reveal of the Enterprise-A a big surprise?

I recently saw a 1986 interview with the cast around the time The Voyage Home came out and they were being interviewed on the set of the Enterprise. As we all know, the Enterprise doesn't make an appearance in the movie until the last two minutes of the movie.

So that just leads me to ask, was it a surprise ending or did you know the Enterprise was going to return?

Yes, absolutely a surprise for me. I remember there be much discussion about what would happen to the ex-Enterprise crew. As has been mentioned, some thought that--as in the DC Comics version--Kirk and Crew would be assigned to Excelsior.

For me, it was a surprise because I remember in discussions at various cons after Star Trek III that Kirk and the gang were going to get the Excelsior.

Click to expand...

Right! I remember that now.

Yeah, that was a popular theory among my immediate circle of Trekkie friends and associates.

I remember seeing Leonard Nimoy at a convention a few months before the movie came out. I'm pretty sure he didn't mention a new Enterprise at all . . . although he did tease the pon faar scene just a bit.

I think STARLOG reported on this, or maybe ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS if it was still around, but there was a convention in Sept or so of 1986 where a very prominent new picture of the Enterprise over Earth was displayed ... with the -A on it (it's the same pic on the title page of Cinefex 29's article on the film.)

I read about that in advance of the film coming out, so I had a feeling it was going to turn up again, but I was so satisfied with the film (during that first viewing anyway -- up until recently it was the least rewatchable of the movies) that it still kind of tingled when the reveal happened.

I was expecting the crew to get some kind of star ship, and remember thinking it wouldn't be Star Trek if they were on a ship with a different name than Enterprise. I assumed it would likely be the Excelsior, since they introduced it in III, and there is the comics of the time, too. I was just glad it wasn't an Oberth class vessel.

I recently saw a 1986 interview with the cast around the time The Voyage Home came out and they were being interviewed on the set of the Enterprise. As we all know, the Enterprise doesn't make an appearance in the movie until the last two minutes of the movie.

So that just leads me to ask, was it a surprise ending or did you know the Enterprise was going to return?

Click to expand...

I don't know if it was a surprise to me. But I was dissapointed a bit. I would've prefered a different ship. I've never been too keen on maintaining the statu quo in a show.

I recently saw a 1986 interview with the cast around the time The Voyage Home came out and they were being interviewed on the set of the Enterprise. As we all know, the Enterprise doesn't make an appearance in the movie until the last two minutes of the movie.

So that just leads me to ask, was it a surprise ending or did you know the Enterprise was going to return?

Click to expand...

I don't know if it was a surprise to me. But I was dissapointed a bit. I would've prefered a different ship. I've never been too keen on maintaining the statu quo in a show.